West Ham battle back to heap pain on wasteful Tottenham
Ange Postecoglou's team raced out of the blocks at the start of the campaign, playing a dazzling brand of attacking football and winning eight of their first 10 games to top the table. But their momentum has slowed dramatically in recent weeks and they now find themselves nine points behind leaders and bitter London rivals Arsenal.
Spurs came into the match in buoyant mood after an enthralling 3-3 weekend draw against champions Manchester City and they started in style at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Cristian Romero put the home side ahead early, just reward for their dominance, but the visitors equalised through Jarrod Bowen shortly after half-time and James Ward-Prowse completed the turnaround in the 74th minute.
Delighted West Ham manager David Moyes said his side had the ability to give top sides a "bloody nose". "Huge performance because of the quality of the opposition," he told Amazon Prime. "We were up against it tonight. We had to dig in. Thankfully we just about scraped it. The quality Tottenham showed in the first half, I don't know if we touched the ball for eight or nine minutes."
Spurs enjoyed around 90 percent possession in the opening minutes as the visitors struggled to make any sort of impact. They got the reward they deserved in the 11th minute, when Romero met an outswinging corner from Pedro Porro and guided his header into the top corner from the centre of the penalty box.
The home team continued to dominate and create chances, with Dejan Kulusevski catching the eye. Giovani Lo Celso's shot in the 35th minute was saved by Lukasz Fabianski before Brennan Johnson fired straight at the goalkeeper But Spurs failed to make their overwhelming superiority count and were grateful when Lucas Paqueta headed
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